公盟许志永博士被警方带走
2009年7月29日早5点左右，公盟负责人许志永博士被警方带走，同时被警方带走的还有公盟工作人员庄璐。
公盟是一家民间公益组织，长期以来，始终致力于推进国家的法治进步和实现社会公平正义，秉持法治、理性、建设和非暴力的公盟理念，积极介入公益事业，捍卫公民权利，维护宪法和法律尊严。
许志永博士和公盟一直在国家宪法和法律的框架内，公开透明地从事法律援助、公益诉讼、社会调查和政策研究，在司法公正、政务公开、舆论监督、住房拆迁、土地征收、业主权益、环境保护、食品安全、疾病防治以及教育公平、自由迁徙等民生、公益领域开展了大量工作。
我们期望，有关部门恪守法治，基于构建公平、正义、和谐社会的历史高度，包容开放民间组织，慎重妥善处理本案，尽快恢复许志永博士的人身自由。
公盟将一如既往地坚守理性、法治、建设和非暴力原则，继续长久关注和推动中国的公益事业、社会进步和法治文明。
公盟2009年7月30日
附：许志永简历
许志永，1973年生于河南省民权县。1990年就读兰州大学法律系，获法学学士学位；1995年，再入兰州大学法律系，获法学硕士学位；1999年，考入北京大学法学院，2002年获法学博士学位。
许志永是孙志刚事件后向全国人大常委会递交公民建议书，要求启动对《城市流浪乞讨人员收容遣送办法》的违宪审查的三博士之一，曾介入孙大午案、南方都市报案、黑砖窑案、三聚氰胺奶粉受害者索赔案等。曾被评为2003年度全国十大法治人物、改革开放30年影响社会进程120位代表人物、南方人物周刊十大青年领袖。
2003年7月，许志永创立公盟。为北京邮电大学教师、北京市海淀区第十三、十四届人大代表。
下面还有英国 金融时报 FT 的新闻报道
Chinese authorities detain civil rights activist
Published: July 30 2009 11:57 | Last updated: July 30 2009 11:57
A prominent Chinese civil rights activist has been detained, in an escalation of Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on non-governmental organizations and free speech.
Xu Zhiyong, a law scholar and organizer of a legal help group that was shut down earlier this month, was taken away by uniformed policemen and plainclothes officers from his residential compound early Wednesday, eyewitnesses and collegues of Mr Xu said.
The detention follows a series of steps against NGOs and their organizers, especially people providing legal aid in cases seen as politically sensitive by the authorities.
The crackdown underscores the limits of the rule of law in a country where the Communist Party, not judges, traditionally decides on court cases. It comes as Beijing is facing a growing wave of dissent and unrest just as it prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1.
Also on Wednesday, government officials raided the offices of the Yirenping Centre, a non-for-profit institution that offers health education and legal aid to people suffering from infectious diseases such as Hepatitis.
The centre was accused of illegal publishing, copies of its newsletter confiscated, and Lu Jun, the centre’s organizer, ordered to come in for questioning next Tuesday.
On July 18, authorities closed down the Open Constitution Initiative, a legal aid group founded by Mr Xu, on the grounds that it had failed to pay taxes due – an accusation Mr Xu denies. The group had been forced to register as a company because it was not given approval to register as an NGO. It now faces a fine of more than Rmb1.4m.
“I think we angered some evil power by working for conscience and justice,” said Mr Xu in a phone interview last week. He said the group would take legal steps to fight its abolition. “We don't have any money to pay this fine. Our funds come from donations in amounts of Rmb5 or Rmb10 at a time.”
Thursday, Mr Xu’s cellphone was off. OCI said it had lost contact to him since Wednesday morning.
OCI had irked the government by representing parents of children that fell ill or died from milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. The courts repeatedly rejected cases brought on behalf of the victims. OCI has also campaigned against China’s extra-legal detention system.
Dozens of other lawyers have lost their licenses after government-controlled professional organizations entrusted with renewing the licenses rejected their applications or put them on hold. Among those lawyers with problems, many had represented parents of children who died in collapsing schools in the earthquake in Sichuan last year and parents of melamine victims.
A man picking up the phone at the Bei Taipingzhuang police station close to Mr Xu’s home denied on Thursday that Mr Xu had been arrested by his police station.
But Yang Huiwen, a lawyer at the Open Constitution Initiative, said security guards at Mr Xu’s residential compound had seen Mr Xu be taken away.
In China, persons targeted by the authorities for political reasons are often detained and held in undisclosed locations for months before they are formally arrested and charged.
